Slan, all. Just finally getting around to reposting my stories to their requisite forums.

Credit where credit is due: most of these characters were created by either Michael Stackpole or Aaron Allston, and to those two go all the laurels for this little story. They play extensively in George Lucas?s creation of a Galaxy far far away, and they have his permission to do so. I don?t, but as I?m broke, I hope no one will sue me for the liberties I am about to take. These are characters from the X-Wing novels, for the most part, and the dialogue in italics in this post is directly quoted from Book 7, Solo Command, by Aaron Allston.

This story is a plausible expansion on one of the situations left hanging at end of that novel. In my humble opinion, this is the best of the Star Wars novels. I?ve read a lot of them, maybe half of the published novels so far, and this is by far the best of them: deep and real, and funny and so poignantly sad all at the same time. Allston keeps so many balls in the air, and yet each character speaks with his or her own distinctive voice. Characters are surprising and yet never surreal, and no one, I mean *no one* writes Wedge Antilles better. Sorry, I?m gushing, think I might be a fan?

Anyway, if you haven?t read that novel, and don?t want to be spoiled, don?t read any further. So without further ado, a possible answer to the question: what happened after that? for a troubled pair of ex-Wraiths. I hope you like it.

*Derisa*

?...I?ll accept whatever you decide.?

The redhead gave the unseen holocam a last, long glance, her jade green eyes seeming to search out the viewer?s own, and then that almost-familiar face faded into the blankness of the recording?s ending.

Lieutenant Myn Donos of Starfighter Command?s justly famous Rogue Squadron bit his lip, his brow creased with concentration. With an almost reflex gesture, he cued the message to begin playback again. He had lost count of how many times he done this now, in the two weeks since he had first gotten it.

The screen brightened, and there shone the face of the woman he... well, that was the whole issue, wasn?t it? What did he feel for her? Who was she, really?

?Hello, Myn. It?s been a while since we?ve seen one another.? It had been six weeks. His life had changed beyond recognition. And hers?

Her name was Kirney Slane, in this new incarnation, but she?d been Lara Notsil when he?d known her, and before that...

Gara Petothel: an exemplary agent in Isard?s Imperial Intelligence Branch, specialising in deep cover espionage. She?d been born into a loyal Imperial family with Intelligence practically bred into her. What was it Corran had called her: a ?situational adaptive?? Was she sane, or was she reaching towards a state of normalcy, even as he was?

?I?m back on Corellia now, after a few years of knocking around the Galaxy...? She sounded so... good, even with the odd Corellian accent, to his ears parched for her voice, and she looked so good to him, too, despite the change in hair tint.

But Gara Petothel had been the agent to deliver up his first command, the ill-fated Talon Squadron, to obliteration at the hands of the Empire, on a nameless, useless moon. He?d come away from that shattered, but still standing, if you could call it that. He had tried to bury his misplaced guilt and to deny himself any emotional expression at all, because if *one* thing were to slip...

The whole tower of cards had come tumbling down when his astromech, sole survivor of the Talon massacre other than himself, was destroyed in a later engagement. Suddenly alone and made brutally aware that his pilots had gone unavenged, Myn had retreated from his new unit, and had only been drawn out by the concerted efforts of his squadmates.

Flying with the Wraiths, he?d been as close to normal as he?d come after the disaster with the Talons, and it was Lara who had helped him see, just by her presence in his life, that he wasn?t as alone in the Galaxy as he?d thought. And neither wa/>

awesome timing i was just about to try to get through the large amount of pages on the original board...imagine my delight when i found you were re-posting (i think i love this split) nice start Derisa